My Third Christmas In America

Ah Christmas, it is said to be the most wonderful time of the year. In the United States Christmas is a time of giving and receiving, spending time with your family, and in most Christian families, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas is hands-down the most highly commercialized holiday celebrated by Americans. In fact, according to CBS news, the average American will spend $700 on gifts this holiday season, totaling for a whopping $465 billion spent nation-wide. From mall Santas as far as the eye can see, to hearing Christmas music in every retail store you enter. Christmas is a time of high spirits and high spending in the U.S.

In this paper I will discuss Social Theories such as Structural Functionalism, Conflict theory; with emphasis on Karl Marx’s early work and how it relates to the conflict theory and Symbolic interaction. I intend to define and discuss relevant sociological terms of these theories and how these theories could apply to my favorite holiday which is Christmas.

Christmas is the annual festival celebrating the birth of Jesus on the 25th December, at least that is what it began as initially. Since it has expanded into an international phenomenon for consumption, taking priority over our everyday practices of life (Michel De Certeau, 1980). Our time we spend divided between work and leisure in accordance to the codes and conventions of society shifts, Christmas derails these expectations. Yet surprisingly Christmas gains little attention in terms of social research, despite the fact that it can be explored diversely. The inquiry ‘What is Christmas?’ links to multiple aspects of social research. The aspects of Christmas can be subdivided into the following; religion, commercialism, gift-giving, social relationships, sensualism and mythology. This essay will analyse these fundamentals of Christmas through both psychological and sociological perspectives, as the theories among these two social sciences are best suited to the elements which make up Christmas itself.

Christmas in Dominican Republic was the best time. My grandmother and my uncles would kill a pig for Christmas’ Eve and all of my cousins and I would play hide and seek into the night. Also, we had a chicken that would always jump on my little cousin as soon as she came to our house. We would always laugh and tell her the chicken did not like her. I wonder if the chicken would have liked my little brother? I never found out.

Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed most commonly on December 25 as a religious culture. Christmas Day is a holiday when some kids get presents. Many homes have Christmas trees and other decorations in the weeks leading to Christmas Day. They also have movies and shows like Rudolph, Frosty The Snowman, Santa Claus, Gingerbread Man, and Little Drummer Boy. That is part of my american

She couldn’t stand the crowd she had just come out from, especially because of the disgusting, sticky, humidity. To her, it was like a sauna and she hated the sauna. On top of that, she despised the way people pushed one another, hurt one another and fought over a product. It was as if they were wild animals in a tropical jungle, ferociously racing for the scarce food. Christmas had become a publicity opportunity for every store and the people victims of the publicity. In these modern days, the only thing that worried everyone were the gifts. “Is he going to like me for it?”, all the women wondered and “Maybe she’ll forgive me like this”, all the men thought as they were buying. And the shopping centers became a disgusting, humid jungle.

Christmas is celebrated worldwide, but other country’s traditions are different. In the United States, it was originated by Jesus birth, but it also covered up a pagan holiday known as Saturnalia. Saturnalia is where they celebrated roman gods and the giving of fruits, nuts, and wax candles. Christmas is actually Christ- mass. America has many traditions that may be weird to other countries customs. America has many customs in their holidays. Surely any state or country would have many customs in their holidays. People in the U.S.A always say that the way other religions celebrate their holidays that it’s weird.

As my 5 years living in America theirs just some things I don't understand and find funny. These Americans are weird, like around the very end of each year everyone starts to get joyful and happy also like to bring up this word "Christmas" and it involves a big fat white man with a white beard who wears a red suit, which carries toys on a flying vehicle with deers flying it. I find that pretty funny if you ask me. But, that's not the only weird thing about this event.

Have you ever wondered how people have the most beautiful christmas decorations? Or wondered how to do it yourself? Their decorations look so cool and you wish that your house could look like that. Well, now your house can look like theirs too. I will tell you the steps to the success. The steps to decorate for the holidays. They will tell you everything from the tree, to the outside of your house and everywhere in between.

There is a lot of Christmas traditions in this world. Every American family celebrates Christmas in a different way! My family's celebration of christmas is an example of a typical American Christmas. My sisters go to a private school (Immanuel Lutheran School). Every year they put on this Christmas Program at our church, and like always it turns out adorable with the cute songs they sing to the intriguing way they act out their parts. Being an American means you get to celebrate different holidays in some places you’re not even allowed too,we have freedom in America.

December 24th, 2016 was the first Christmas I spent in America with my host family. All kinds of decoration were ready to light up and a variety of gifts were set up under the Christmas tree . My host parents and I were hanging up the Christmas socks at the fireplace. Within the 8 socks this year, there were three of them did not belong to the fireplace anymore. Baddy, Peter, and Jasmine, their socks were hung at the second-floor platform, a place for the dogs that no longer with us. Standing by the entrance door, I looked upward to the third sock with Jasmine’s name on it. With Jasmine’s Christmas sock moving from the fireplace and taking an empty space on the second floor, I realized something was change. It was not only about the dogs but also myself.

Merry Christmas, celebrate by spreading the real Christmas meaning. If you happen to look around you while in Christmas month, you will see that it is now definitely a commercial holiday. You are going to encounter many people rushing around to obtain gifts, and it appears as if people have forgotten the actual Christmas meaning. Aside from the overpriced gifts and also the big dinners, there are many other ways you will be able to celebrate Christmas to help you reflect the actual Christmas meaning of this lovely holiday. If you are not a Christian, you might still be able to enjoy this vacation.

I remember it like it was yesterday. Christmas break in 2005. My family and I were celebrating Christmas Eve at my house. The smell of turkey, pine needles, and freshly wrapped presents were in the air, and boy was my 6 year old self excited. My cousins and I would always sneak to the living room to inspect the abundance of presents located under the tree. My cousin Lucas and I noticed that our presents were of similar size and weight.

Christmas is a tradition that most people celebrate whether you celebrate Christmas for Santa Claus or the birth of Jesus there is one thing everybody likes and that is presents. Christmas is celebrated by mainly everybody in the United States regardless of what you believe in. With most holidays comes traditions and with Christmas there is a whole list of them whether you cut down your Christmas tree in the forest or leave milk out for Santa Claus A.K.A (dad) you are indeed celebrating Christmas traditions. Most people decorate for Christmas it has been recorded that people have decorated for Christmas as far back as the 15th century. You may wonder where the colors of Christmas came from (red, green and gold). They all symbolize something different. Red represents the blood of Jesus, Green represents eternal life, and lastly gold was just the first color associated with Christmas. There we have it folks Christmas in a nutshell. (Sources Wikipedia.org)

Winter break had just began and I could feel the adrenaline running through my veins. I was so excited for the trips I was going to go on. It was Monday, the first day of winter break, and my dad took my sister, Alex, and I down to Oceanside. We were headed to my grandma’s house, where my Tia Krissy and my cousins, Olivia and Cici, would be heading to as well. My older cousin, Julia was on her way from Carlsbad when we arrived to my grandma’s house. After we arrived, my grandma was pleased to see us and we gave her big hugs. The house smelt like she had been cooking. My grandma loves to cook. We had beans, rice, and tortilla chips, I love my grandma’s beans and rice, you can taste the love. The food was great, so I got a second serving.